AUTHOR: Nicolette Lewer - nicolel@iconz.co.nz
  DISTRIBUTION: Ask me first
  SUMMARY: Willow/Giles You have been warned :-) This is a sequel to my
  story 'Goodbye, Valentine' and I'd recommend you read it first.
  RATING: G
  DISCLAIMER: I don't own these great characters and I'm not making money
  from this.
  FEEDBACK: You're welcome to e-mail and say hi :-)

  That night Willow started coughing, and the next day she woke to find she
  had a full blown cold. She felt awful, her head felt as if it was full of
  cotton wool and she wanted nothing more than to be left alone. Her mother
  looked at her in concern and asked whether Willow had been overworked at
  school, or was going through stress at the moment (something that brought
  on
  colds, according to her).

  [Stress?] Willow thought bleakly. Oh, just that today Xander had shown that
  he didn't think of her as a potential girlfriend. Giles had made her feel
  better....but she was confused as to how she felt about him now. He had
  probably been kidding about giving her a Valentines Day card. She didn't say
  this of course to her mother but shrugged in feigned bewilderment, which
  brought on more coughing.

  That day she felt as if she was wrapped in fog, cut off from the rest of the
  world with her heart feeling like a heavy, gloomy lump in her chest. Years
  of practice of hiding her thoughts enabled her to hide her despair behind a
  bland face to her family. She was in no condition to talk when Buffy rang
  her that night but her dad told Buffy that she was ill, and as a result
  Buffy passed on good wishes to Willow.

  On an afternoon a few days later, Willow, feeling a bit better decided that
  if she was ill she may as well suffer in style. She was curled up on the
  sofa in the TV room with blankets and a box of tissues (extra strength)
  watching videos when the doorbell rang. Grumbling to herself Willow stopped
  the TV and walked out to the hall (avoiding the mirror).

  She looked blearily looking through the spyhole in the door then smiled in
  delight. 'Buffy!' she said, feeling more happy than she had in days and
  opened the door to see her friend standing on the porch with a bulging
  carrybag. 'Come in'. There was no danger of Buffy catching anything from
  Willow - one of the perks of being the Slayer was to look disgustingly
  healthy as a result of an extra strong immune system.

  'Thanks' replied Buffy and walked in, staring at Willow in concern. 'Your
  face looks like a tomato - are you OK?'
  'Not really...a tomato, did you say? Gee, thanks' Willow said gloomily as
  she led Buffy to the TV room and flopped back on the sofa.

  Buffy perched on a chair and started pulling things out of her bag, talking
  cheerfully as she did so. 'When the others heard you were ill they got some
  things to make you feel better, and since I'm Ms Immunity they sent me
  along'. 'Things? Willow said hopefully. What? What?'.

  'Cookies, for a start from me' Buffy said briskly and tossed a fragant
  smelling paper bag onto the sofa, which landed on Willows legs with a gentle
  *thump*. 'Best thing for a cold. Xander's lent you some 'Mystery Science
  Theatre 3000' videos...typical' she chuckled as she placed them near Willows

  TV. 'That's great...' Willow said faintly, feeling some of the now familiar
  despair filling her heart again. 'What's he up to?'

  'Nothing much, the usual' Buffy said casually, but she avoided meeting
  Willows eyes. How could she tell Willow that Sunnydale High was buzzing
  with
  the news that Xander and Cordelia were now an item? It would break her
  heart. Apparently, Xander had even given Cordelia a Valentines Day card and
  Buffy didn't want to make Willow feel worse by telling her that.

  Lastly, she pulled out a small brown paper wrapped parcel. Instead of
  tossing it onto the sofa she took it over to Willow, a curious expression
  on her face. 'This is from Giles', she said as she gave it to Willow. 'He's
  quite worried about you'.

  'Really?' said Willow, putting on a curious voice as a sudden warmth stole
  through her body but a faint flush appeared on her cheeks. Buffy, believing
  the flush to be another symptom of the cold stood and said regretfully 'I
  wish I could stay and see what Giles has given you, but I've got practice
  with him this afternoon then I have to study for some ghastly tests. Do you
  need some water or anything?'

  'No, I'm OK....Tests? What tests?' Willow said uneasily, Giles's gift
  temporarily forgotten. She felt bad enough missing school work because of
  the catching up she would have to do (although missing school was probably
  a
  sign she was *really* ill). If these tests were important it would mean that
  missing them would cause her grades to slip, something she couldn't afford
  if she wanted to get into the college of her choice.

  Buffy waved at her reassuringly. 'Relax, they're not that important. It's
  just that Principal Snyder has decided to keep us 'on our toes' by randomly
  setting general knowledge 'test days' through the year, and the first one is
  in two days. Lucky us.' Willow smiled cheekily. 'Glad I'm at home then'.
  Buffy make a face in mock irritation and after saying goodbye let herself
  out of the house.

  Willow gazed thoughtfully at the gift from Giles and began slowly unwrapping
  it. As much as she missed being with Buffy at school she had found she was
  missing Giles as well. Alot. She missed his company, his quirky smile and
  the dozens of other things that made up Rupert Giles. Without her realising
  it, he had become an important part of her life, something that she relied
  on. She did care for him after all and could indeed, she admitted to herself
  shyly, think of him as more than a friend.

  Pulling the last of the paper off she saw it was indeed a book, a collection
  of poems by Tennyson. Feeling touched, she opened the front cover and a
  small pink envelope fell out onto her lap. [Is this what I think it is?] Her
  mouth was suddenly dry and her heart was racing as she opened it and
  pulled
  out a Valentines Day card with a teddy bear on the cover with a red heart on
  its tummy. Giles hadn't been kidding....

  Blinking through sudden tears she opened the card. I HOPE YOU FEEL
  BETTER
  SOON - GILES was written inside in his elegant script. Her first Valentines
  Day card! Her heart sang in soundless joy. She felt so happy she
  could....well, eat all of those cookies Buffy had given her. And she did.

  It was amazing, Willow mused, that this had come as a result of the
  humiliation of Xander asking for her opinion of a Valentines Day card he was
  planning to give to Cordelia. Xander, whom she had had a crush on for ages.
  A crush and a dream of being his girlfriend that he had thoughtlessly
  destroyed.

  And so it had been Giles who had comforted her when she had fled to the
  library for comfort. She still couldn't believe that Giles cared for her,
  and she brought out that thought in her mind several times over the next few
  days as she gradually got better.

  When she went back to Sunnydale next week all signs of Valentines Day
  were long
  gone. Once again the hallways of the school were restored to their normal
  state, the paper hearts and banners locked away in storage until next year.
  Her cold had gone and she still felt a bit weak, but the best thing of all
  was that her depression had lifted and she felt as if the world had some
  meaning to it again. When she opened her locker she wrinkled her nose at
  the
  smell of over ripe apple that had been there since before Valentines Day.
  [Gross!] After she had tossed it in a nearby rubbish bin she came back to
  her locker and carefully sticky-taped the card from Giles to the inside of
  the door.

  It didn't matter that the card was smaller than the one Giles had promised
  he would give her. In fact, this one could be cradled in the palm of her
  hand. But who cared? She didn't and it was only her shyness that stopped
  her
  from yelling to the world that she had her first Valentines Day card. She
  was looking forward to thanking him, though she could only do that if she
  had a moment alone with him. The thought of that unexpectedly sent a surge
  of heat through her body.

  However, the thought of running into Xander make her feel uncomfortable, to
  say the least. She knew it would be hard to talk to Xander in the carefree
  way she once had.